Review: Master Grade GM C-Type

By Loran

Like I mentioned in my last review of the Master Grade GP02A, I get impatient sometimes-why wait for an HGUC when I can just grab a Master Grade to hold me over? Yes, they aren’t usually my cup of tea, but it gets the job done. Sometimes I get a pleasant surprise, other times I’m really disappointed. But in this case, I’ve gotta say I’m left with a serious feeling of “meh”.

The GM C-Type, originally conceived as a full-on redesign for the classic GM for an obscure design series, made its official debut in the Gundam 0083 OVA. It got two releases-one in black/tan, and this one, in classic GM colors. The kit shares most of its frame with the previous Gundam Ver. Ka (Version Katoki, named for the designer that drew them), because they both originally appeared in the same design set. It’s one of my favorite “main” GMs, being the opposite of the GM Command, appearing more bulky as opposed to streamlined. The kit, while it looks nice, seems to have not much else going for it, however…

The head is your basic Master Grade head, with a nice crystal-clear visor that you can make any color you wish. I actually like using permanent markers for this, because you have a wide array of colors to choose from and they show up clear over the visor. There’s a polycap ball-joint for the neck, which works nicely. I’ve also always loved the antenna on this guy’s head. It looks so cool for some reason.

The torso is where things start to get iffy. Because this uses the same frame as an RX-78 Master Grade, it has the spot for the Core Fighter. Because GMs don’t have Core Fighters, in its place you get a neat little mechanical block thing. It’s cool, but rather inconvenient, because the Core Fighter sacrificed poseability, but came with, well, a transforming Core Fighter. Here it feels like you have poseability scrapped for nothing, because the side-to-side movement on the waist is severely hindered. The waist itself has standard poseability, and neat little hinges for the weapons to sit on.

Onto the arms-they don’t have too many issues on their own, being pretty much what you’d expect, but I NEVER understood the way the forearms were designed. It looks like the wrist is constantly pointed upwards regardless of what pose the arm is in. It’s just… weird.

I’d have to say the legs are probably my biggest beef of all. Like some Master Grades, you get the neat semi-cloth tubing for some joints to make it look more “mechanical”, but I always hated these because of how damn hard they are to cut and fit properly. The biggest issue of all, though, is the stiffness. I have NEVER seen a Gundam kit with joints this stiff in my entire life. This is mostly because of the screws in the thighs, but DAMN, this is stretching it. Yes, stability is good, but damn, I’d like to actually pose the thing! On top of that, the removable armor is really disappointing. It’s just two halves for each section. No cool segments or anything. What a huge disappointment.

The weapons are where the kit shines, however. You get an updated GM Beam Spray Gun, a rifle similar to the ones used by the other GMs in 0083, a standard Federation machine gun (which I can’t find at the moment), and these crazy option parts to make the GM Rifle into this wacky shotgun-looking thing! On top of that, you get a standard Federation shield with no cross, and a spare beam saber inside. Overall, an awesome selection of weapons, though I should point out that the black/tan version lacks the GM Rifle/shotgun combination.

Overall, the GM C-Type is an average kit in many senses of the word. It could’ve been a great kit but the source of most of its parts killed it in my eyes. Thankfully, there’s a shiny new HGUC kit that just came out, which is sure to impress because it shares parts with the fantastic Powered GM kit. Saldy, the FP store is short on GMs now, but we still have the GM Command HGUC which I gave a shining recommendation, and the GM-like GN-Archer-isn’t it adorable?